Troot was among the first in Finland in 2020 to gain advertising rights to the explosively growing TikTok and later access to the social media giant's own advertising portal TikTok Ads, which finally makes it possible for brands to offer and create auction-based advertising campaigns.
What is TikTok advertising all about in a nutshell? For the uninitiated, the whole thing is a jungle of various options and rules. Troot's Account Manager Laura Seppänen, who is familiar with TikTok advertising, opens up the range of different advertising formats available in Finland in an easy-to-digest format.
Reserved advertising
Reserved ad space encompasses several different advertising formats on TikTok, which can be easily organized, for example, through reservation placement. The most relevant advertising formats available in Finland are In-feed One Day Max, which can be reserved for a day, Brand Premium, which can be reserved for a longer period, or the so-called open or full screen advertising Top View ad.
The costs of reserved advertising are fixed and higher than auction-based advertising, but there are clear benefits as well. The biggest advantage compared to auctions is the reservation placement itself, in other words, where the ad is placed on the platform. Reserved ads bypass the spots sold on the auction side and are more easily visible in the user's For You feed. The most popular reserved advertising format in Finland is probably the one-day campaign One Day Max, where the ad is always placed as the fourth video seen by the user when browsing the home feed.
Reserved advertising is not targeted in its basic form, but light age targeting is also available for users over 18. This enables advertising of services or products classified as K18 content on TikTok, such as energy drinks. Despite the lack of targeting, the effectiveness and reach of advertising is guaranteed precisely because of the placement.
With Top View ads, the user's attention is captured even more effectively, as the advertising format allows the brand visibility throughout the day as the first video that the user sees when opening the app. The first three seconds of the ad are shown to the user in full screen, after which it seamlessly transitions to the usual ad layout with copy text and CTA buttons. The Top View ad thus combines a user-stopping effect with a more traditional, tactical finish in a particularly effective way. Top View and ODM ads are excellent advertising formats for various campaign packages or product launches, for example.
On the reserved advertising side, Brand Premium advertising is an exception to the rule of daily purchased ad placements. Brand Premium ads are placed on the platform significantly "lower" than Top View and ODM ads, in the range of the first 130 videos seen – but since advertising is recommended to be run with this format for up to two weeks, the spot generates a steady amount of guaranteed impressions.
Auction-based advertising
Auction-based advertising offers brands a more adaptive and cost-effective marketplace than reserved advertising – the cost per thousand ad impressions (CPM) is currently even a tenth lower compared to reserved advertising. As advertising and competition increase on TikTok, auction prices are certainly rising, but costs are still very reasonable for advertisers.
Flexibility also counts among the advantages of auctions. Running ads is not tied to certain days or dependent on TikTok's reserved ad inventory, where ad spaces and days are sold by market area to only one brand at a time. Advertising can also be targeted very extensively, from age and location to interests or even phone interface and platform behavior. Advertising can also practically run much more agilely, as there are no intermediaries.
Boosting, or TikTok Spark Ads
Perhaps the most interesting way to advertise on TikTok right now is boosting, or promoting organic content to advertising. Advertising works basically under the same conditions as ordinary auction-based advertising, but the advertising material itself is already existing, organic content on the platform.
You can boost content from anywhere, from an influencer's or brand's own account. This is precisely why boosting advertising has great potential – organic content doesn't jump out as separate from the rest of the app's typical content in users' eyes or cause the same ad-break-like feeling when browsing the feed.
Although advertising in general on TikTok is still relatively new and uncharted territory, it is already possible to determine what kind of advertising works well on the platform and what doesn't. Ad spots brought directly from other channels to the platform rarely resonate with TikTok users and are often scrolled past within the first second, whereas for example influencer-driven and otherwise platform-appropriate, authentic or even homemade advertising creatives work extremely well with the target audience. Also, among the TikTok advertising campaigns sold by Troot, those that have performed best are precisely the creatives that were made specifically for TikTok.
It is possible to tap into the aforementioned characteristics through boosting or content sponsorship somewhat more easily, provided that the content on the selected TikTok account is otherwise suitable for advertising. With planning and conscious execution, however, boosting can create cost-effective, functional, and authentic advertising that follows TikTok's spirit.
In summary
In general, all different advertising formats, both reserved and auction-based, have their own clear benefits and optimal use cases.
Stylistically, essentially the same native approach works in all different forms of advertising, which the user doesn't actually distinguish as advertising at first glance when browsing the For You feed. The recommended, most effective duration of an ad creative is nine to fifteen seconds, the design is colorful and lively, and the execution is original, even homemade. Human characters or, for example, influencers work well in advertising – plain graphics or product images can leave users cold and the advertising distant. Technically, it's also worth paying attention to the creative layout and possible text panels, as the platform's ad layout's safe zone or safety margins are relatively tight.
When choosing an advertising format, the advertiser should also think in advance about which target audience the product or service is being advertised to, and whether the advertising contains elements classified as K18 content, for example. Also, for example, direct advertising to children or the use of child models in advertising is against TikTok's advertising policy.
Considerations also include the hashtag usage ban that applies to all advertising. The ban is strongly related to TikTok's Hashtag Challenge advertising format, which is still awaited to arrive on the Finnish market. In other markets around the world, there are also already considerably more interactive advertising formats in use, such as Voting Card or Interactive Card-style user-activating advertising formats.
Time and the growth in user numbers will likely eventually bring more advertising methods to Finland as well and further increase TikTok's appeal as an effective advertising platform – TikTok is first and foremost a communal social media platform for a new generation, where user interaction and participation in various trends or styles is key. However, even now in the era of more limited options, advertisers should take advantage of the platform's novelty, efficiency, and potential in a continuously growing user base!
Interested in TikTok advertising? Get in touch with Troot's team! business@troot.fi
